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Movies & TV

29th Mar 2020

Why you should be watching… Succession

Dave Hanratty

Why you should watch Succession

Quite simply the best new show of the last couple of years.

Considering we’re all spending a lot of time indoors these days, the JOE team has picked out viewing recommendations for TV series, old and new, to get stuck into to keep boredom at bay. 

Title: Succession

Starring: Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, Alan Ruck, J. Smith-Cameron

Where can you watch it? Sky Store

Number of seasons/episodes: Two seasons, 20 episodes

IMDB rating: 8.5 / 10

Why you should watch it: Because it’s the best show on TV at the moment.

Production on season three is unfortunately delayed due to ongoing coronavirus concerns so this is a good time to catch up Succession.

Headed up by Peep Show co-creator Jesse Armstrong, the show tracks the trials and tribulations of the Roy family; a collection of absolutely awful rich people with almost no redeeming features whatsoever.

All of them are vying for control over Waystar-Royco; a global media and hospitality empire that unites them in ruthless greed. The legendary Brian Cox sits at the top of the mountain, painfully aware that his children seek to oust him. Cue an endless series of power plays that rival the cut-throat world of Game of Thrones.

The blood spilled here, however, is mostly metaphorical, the murders of the verbal variety. And oh how it sings and stings in that department. It’s a bold claim but there might not be a current show with better writing and performances.

As noted, the characters are dreadful human beings and yet you cannot take your eyes off them. Cox, having been brilliant for so many years now, finds another gear as the wildly profane and short-tempered patriarch but this is the making of Jeremy Strong as Kendall, his most troubled offspring.

Oh, and the theme music is the finest in the game right now, too.

Clip via HBO

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Topics:

HBO,Succession